Homelessness in Canada affects about 200,000 people every year and comes with a $7 billion price tag, the first-ever national report on the issue has found. The results paint a picture of a disaster in communities across the country, said Tim Richter, one of the report’s authors and the president of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness.
“In a natural disaster, the loss of housing or life happens because of a fire or flood or something like that,” he said.
“In the unnatural disaster of homelessness, the same things are happening, but it’s happening because of poverty, disability, addiction, mental illness and trauma.”